Game Editor Request

[foleyjo]

Hi all

Not sure if any of you are aware of the software Game Editor
http://www.game-editor.com

It's game design software that lets you compile your game across different formats.

I've asked and it seems that it shouldn't be too difficult to make it compile for the Amiga too however there is nobody with the time to implement it.

I think an Amiga version of this would bring a lot more development and games to the Amiga.

So my question is , is there anybody here who could spend a bit of time to make an Amiga compiler for this software.

If yes then you should contact Makslane on the game-editor forums.

http://www.game-editor.com
http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/game-editor/

[commodorejohn]

Depends largely on what kind of Amiga setup you're targeting. You might easily port it to PPC/SDL, but the PPC OSes are already flooded with quick recompiles of existing games. There's far fewer original titles, and next to no new development for OCS or AGA Amigas. Those, in my opinion, are the platforms that could really use a boost.

[foleyjo]

I was thinking the classic amiga route OCS ECS and AGA.
This is purely for selfish reasons.

Currently games can be compiled for:

Windows (95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, 2003, XP, Vista)
Pocket PC / Windows Mobile
Handheld PC
Windows Mobile-based Smartphones
GP2X
Linux

On the next version I understand work is being done on some other platforms however I'm not 100% sure what these are.
I would just love Amiga to be added to the list as I think a lot of people would benefit from it.

The following link is a Commodore 64 quiz I made with GE. You just need to download the exe file. The other files are the editor

https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=17e9c6d1acca95c2&resid=17E9C6D1ACCA95C2!191

[fishy_fiz]

Unfortunately OCS/ECS/AGA versions are nigh on impossible unless a person rewrites a large portion of the code, and even then it'd be pretty much unusable. Not because ocs/ecs/aga machines are underpowered for something like Game Editor, but rather that the code base isnt very custom chipset friendly. RTG os3.x, os4, mos and aros should cope ok, but to get something like this that's reasonably capable for custom chipset based 68k amigas the software would have to be written from the grounds up so as to both utilise strengths and avoid weaknesses of the hardware.

Try running Game Editor on a 286 through to a p90 or thereabouts on win/lin/etc. to get an idea of how bad that particular software would run.

[SamuraiCrow]

@Fishy-Fiz
The CPU may not be so powerful but the chipset gives a bigger boost to Amiga-style games than to RTG games.  Also, the 68000 processor is on par with a 386SX so a 286 would struggle at running Amiga games even if it had the same chipset.

@Foleyjo
There is an effort underway to make a new game editor that resembles Backbone on Amiga.  We're going to write it in PortablE on AROS and see to it that there are custom runtime libraries for AGA.  I'm not so sure about ECS but we might be able to go back that for also.  See here for details.  To join the team contact me or Cammy.  We meet on IRC on Sunday at 20:00 GMT (or Monday morning if you're in Australia) at #amigae on irc.Freenode.net .

[fishy_fiz]

@samurai Crow

Read what I wrote again. I didnt say that ocs/ecs/aga are incapable, I said the code base for Game Editor is unsuitable for ocs/ecs/aga.
Yes, a 68000 is clock for clock closer to a 386, but there's no such thing as a 7.14mhz 386, so the 286 comparison is a lot more apt. There's simply no 386 as slow as the Amigas 7.14mhz 68000.

Also, "Amiga style games". Surely that's in the eye of the beholder? I for one much prefer games (even on the amiga) that favor RTG. 95% of custom chipset games have dated badly in my opinion.

Creating software from the ground up and the custom chipset is fun to use, but it's simply too slow to deal with multiplatform software with the sort of ports amiga people get these days (ie. pretty much just recompiles using amiga oses typically substandard ports of foreign apis and toolkits, not to mention ocs/ecs/aga versions of said dependencies often dont exist, or at best cost even more performance).
Want decent performing custom chipset based amiga software? Write it from the grounds up, there's simply no other practical option.

[foleyjo]

@fishy_fiz: Just to be sure, it's not game-editor that I want to see on Amiga it's the compiled games.  Now some GE games would cause problems but surely when people know the restraints, small games would be made. For example the Quiz I made would surely run fine on the Amiga.

@samuraiCrow: Thanks for the information. I doubt there is much I would be able to contribute. I'm just looking for something as simple to use as Game Editor that can make Amiga software.

[Mazze]

@Foleyjo
There is an effort underway to make a new game editor that resembles Backbone on Amiga.

Great. Good luck with this aim.

[commodorejohn]

Just to be sure, it's not game-editor that I want to see on Amiga it's the compiled games.  Now some GE games would cause problems but surely when people know the restraints, small games would be made. For example the Quiz I made would surely run fine on the Amiga.

Probably not, really. These all-purpose game creation systems tend to have a fixed set of requirements no matter what you're doing with them. GameMaker, for instance, ran like molasses on one of my less-powerful but still modern-ish PCs, even though the game in question was I Wanna Be The Guy - hardly all that cutting-edge, technologically.

[foleyjo]

Oh well.
Still it was worth asking.